Barnaby Joyce says halal market is vital to Australian farmers

But Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has warned against touching the market, which is vital for many of the nation’s farmers. 

Muslims are only allowed to consume food and drink products that are certified to be halal - which means it must not contain pork or pig products, blood or meat from carnivorous animals or alcohol.

Food producers pay certifiers a fee to verify their product meets the halal requirements, similar to the Heart Foundation tick or the Australian made logo.

Senator Hanson believes Halal certification is a "money making racket" costing Australians up to $10 million a year.

However, Mr Joyce said Australia had been selling into the halal market for decades and many farmers would struggle without it.

“It's an economic imperative, especially in the cattle market and sheep market,” the Agriculture Minister said.

“There are so many sections of the beast we wouldn't be able to sell if we didn't have a halal market to sell them into.”

For example, without halal certification, Australian beef exporters would not be able to access the Indonesia market of 250 million people, the majority of whom are Muslim. Mr Joyce said people often try to turn the halal debate into a “Christianity versus Muslim” issue.

“I would love to take people with me when I go to the Middle East and show them the people who buy our product – they're not zealots, it's just a market,” he said.

“They're just families like the families we've got here, except the families here are selling it and their families are buying it.

“When I've been over there, never once has anyone asked me to become Muslim, I've never asked them to become Christian – and we manage to do a lot of business, so let's just continue on like that.

“People get bent and twisted out of shape for all sorts of reasons, but I tell you, halal should not be one of them.”